“If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.”

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

We know accurately only when we know little; doubt grows with knowledge.

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

There is no past we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternal now that builds and creates out of the past something new and better.

The intelligent man finds everything laughable, the sensible man hardly anything.

The suffering may be moral or physical; and in my opinion it is just as absurd to call a man a coward who destroys himself, as to call a man a coward who dies of a malignant fever.

Doubt can only be removed by action.

There is nothing worse than aggressive stupidity.

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.

Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing.

The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.

The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers & cities; but to know someone who thinks & feels with us, & who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden.

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.

Everybody wants to be somebody, but nobody wants to grow.

For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him, he must regard himself as greater than he is.

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.

I think they’ve finally realized that women go to see movies as much as men do. Ticket sales are coming from them as well, so why not appeal to them? I think they’re finding a way.

We know life is futile. A man who considers that his life is of very wonderful importance is awfully close to a padded cell.

To be free is not necessarily to be wise. Wisdom comes with counsel, with the frank and free conference of untrammeled men united in the common interest.

I do not prize the word cheap. It is not a word of inspiration. It is the badge of poverty, the signal of distress. Cheap merchandise means cheap men and cheap men mean a cheap country.

Never murder a man when he’s busy committing suicide.

It’s like anything in life, visualizing the old man you’re going to become: As long as you have a clear picture of that – the life you want to lead – eventually you’ll probably get there.

I’d rather be called a boy and play with paper airplanes than be called a man and play with a girl’s heart.

Men and women with freed minds may often be mistaken, but they are seldom fooled. They may be influenced, but they cannot be intimidated. They may be perplexed, but they will never be lost.